The US has applied to the court for permission to sell the $300 million Amadea superyacht, which allegedly belongs to sanctioned Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov. Maintenance of a 106-meter vessel costs $600,000 per month.
The arrested superyacht of the Russian oligarch is to be sold because of the crazy maintenance costs
In particular, $360,000 goes to pay the crew, $75,000 to fuel and $165,000 to maintenance, garbage removal, food and other expenses. According to the government, these costs are "far from modest", and citizens should not pay them while the court considers the vessel confiscation issue.
At the same time, one of the issues to be resolved by the court is who owns the luxury yacht. The US claims that Kerimov owns it and violated sanctions by making payments that went to US companies or through the US financial system.
But the former chairman of the Russian oil company Rosneft, Eduard Khudainatov, who is not under US sanctions, claims that he is the actual owner of the vessel. It should be noted that the man is on the EU sanctions list and can be a bogus person to whom the Russian authorities transfer their property. In particular, Khudainatov assures that he has at his disposal another superyacht, "Shaherezada", which, according to the media, still belongs to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
What the side of the oligarch says
Khudainatov's lawyers noted that this arrest is "illegal", but their client will reimburse the US for the costs of Amadea's maintenance, which already amounts to about $20 million if returned to him.
The US alleges that Kerimov used a series of transactions with front companies to hide his ownership but is the beneficial owner of Amadea, meaning he controls and fully disposes of it.
While the US rejects Khudainatov's claims, it says he should pay for his upkeep while the forfeiture fight continues. With payments not forthcoming, the government says it has the right to sell Amadea to end "excessive" spending.
The superyacht, which has six decks and a helipad, spent several months in a US dock after being ferried from Fiji to Honolulu and on to San Diego. The Fijian authorities arrested the vessel at the request of the United States.
The fortune of 57-year-old Kerimov, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is $9.1 billion. He received most of his profits thanks to a stake in the Russian gold mining company "Polyus". The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the oligarch in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine and Syria. These sanctions barred Kerimov from accessing the US financial system.
In addition to the monthly payments, the US Department of Justice said it is paying an annual insurance bill of $1.7 million this month. In March, "Amadea" should go into dry dock for repairs, which, according to the United States, will cost $5.6 million.
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